Cornyn Visits Santa Fe, Texas Following School Shooting

On Friday, I traveled to Santa Fe, Texas after the horrific shooting this morning at Santa Fe High School. I was briefed by law enforcement and local officials on the investigation, including representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Texas Education Association. Following the briefing I held a media availability, and excerpts of my remarks are below.

“We are all obviously heartbroken at the unexpected events of today.”

“After the Parkland shooting at the high school there, we all became aware that we needed to do more than just address mental health issues, but we needed to do that, we needed better collaboration between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.

“We needed to figure out a way to mine information from social media postings where individuals literally advertise their intention to do something like this.”

“We thank all of the law enforcement officers and first responders who came to the aid here.”

“This young man planned on doing this for some time. He prepared for it. He advertised his intentions, but somehow slipped through the cracks.

“About 16 to 18 months ago, we also passed legislation called the Mental Health and Safe Communities Act, which is designed to help teachers and school counselors and parents communicate more about problematic students, students who are sending off all the wrong signals but nothing ever seems to quite happen.

“We don’t know exactly what the whole story is for this young man, but we do know this is a terrible tragedy and we’re all heartbroken at the result. But we need to continue to do everything we can to figure out how to stop these terrible events.”